My Bike

I started cycling a few weeks ago: multiple times a week I cycle between 30 and 40 kilometers and on saturday or sunday this is easily 80 to 100 km per day (at the time with a moderate speed of 27 km/h as average speed).
I lost about 7 kilograms in these 5 weeks. Nice, my 85 kg was a bit too much ... But it is getting time to check on my eating habits, the changing energy consumption of the body demands other eating habits as well.
Even during cycling. I always carry water with me (1.5 liters in a CamelBak ) and some snacks like a banana,apple or sirup wafers but that's all I changed in my eating habits.
Last weekend I got a bag of MAXIM Electrolyte and started to think about food a bit more. MAXIM Electrolyte is a pulverized drink that can be used in water, according to the instructions on the bag 1 spoon per 1/4 liter water but that is a bit too sweet; 2 spoons on a bottle of 3/4 liters is enough. At the end of the day the camelbak is empty but I do not have a "water belly". A bag full of water is really enough, the body does not use all the water, but this stuff is different. A high volume on natrium, Kalium and chloride (electrolytes) make sure the fluid is quickly consumed by the body so that the amount of fluid lost by sweating is wuickly replaced. There is a nice article on the MAXIM web about nutrition, an interesting article on eating and drinking before, during and after training or contest.

4 July 2004: Spotted on the web

Yesterday I found a nice link. On www.fietsen.123.nl many bike tours are collected. Mostly in Dutch but a number of tours have been translated into English.
In the Dutch section tours can be selected based on city or provence. And not only tours in the Netherlands and Belgium but even in France, Germany and Vietnam.
If you are really adventurous grab your GPS from the shelf and try one of the GPS tours.

No GPS for me, I ordered a good cyclometer. Besides speed it also measures cadence and altitude (inclination). With the connection to the PC I can keep a record of my progress.

28 June 2003: Hurri gets new owner

It's final: A Challenge Hurricane got a new owner.
I already selected a new bicycle with accessories but without front suspension. A test drive with a hurricane equiped with front suspension made me decide to go for comfort, the Challenge front suspension is worth its price.
But the price is almost the same as the second hand bike I just tested and that one is even better equipped: Shimano 105 crank, XT disc brakes but the Rohloff Speedhub internal gear hub made the real difference. Maintenance free, 14 real gear ratios and you can change gears under full power. That nice hill I did yesterday is just fun with this, uphill goes easy and at the top I discover I'm still in third gear. This makes longer or steeper climbs a real option. Downhill is just as fun, up to 50 kmh I still pedal on to speed up.
I would like to try this new toy in real mountain terrain. So that's at least a weekend fun in the hills in Limburg and maybe next year Luik - Bastenaken - Luik.

Experience with the Rohloff Speedhub 500

27 June 2003: Putting next week's bike tour on paper

Yesterday, together with Hans, Ellen and Dieuwke, we did a final check for next week. At least we now all know the way. Today I cycled that same tour with pencil and paper at hand, always nice for someone else to cycle.
The complete tour is around 40 km with a stop halfway at the pancake restaurant. The second part of the tour start with a steep hill so we can all experience that a recumbent bike will do okay in the mountains.
If you want to do this yourself, rent a recumbent bike and do the tour yourself.

23 June 2003: Cycle weekend

Recumbents go left? In Bemmel they have some weird ideas on recumbent bicycles.
A weekend away with the Nazca Fiero with over seat steering while I handle under seat steering better. Two days away from everything and a complete new experience. The Veluwe on a recumbent.

2 June 2003: CycleVision

CycleVision is over. Thanks to all the volunteers the event was a big success. I enjoyed myself by helping out both days on the test circuit, the place to test a recumbent yourself. I tried a lof of the recumbents myself and I am convinced. I should have bought a recumbent long time ago, this is real fun. Almost forgot to make pictures but some photos managed the way to the web.
There was even a Flevo Trike that was more stable than my own. The rubber dampening element of the new bike is firm, while mine is (too) flexible. A company sold these rubber elements and for the amount of €18,- I got a complete set of rubber elements.